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"Alexander Graham Bell originally suggested 'ahoy' be adopted as the standard greeting when answering a telephone, before 'hello' (suggested by Thomas Edison) became common." - from the Wikipedia page on 'Ahoy'.

When the joke was first made (Mr. Burns using the phrase), it wasn't "common" knowledge, but it was a known thing. Like one of the "fun facts" you'd find on a cereal box, or in between segments of a TV show, or as a Jeopardy question.

I remember seeing the episode and understanding the joke... it was just meant to make Mr. Burns appear *really* old.

Maybe I just had a ton of useless/esoteric knowledge as a kid -- that's likely too.

I answered the phone by saying ahoy-hoy for years as a kid. I loved Mr. Burns’ random antiquated phrases